Multiple projects canned at Gas Powered Games

Gas Powered Games’ survival is on the brink after several games were being cancelled. As a result, the studio’s existence hangs in the balance, with its immediate future hanging on the Kickstarter project we told you about that the studio has called Wildman.

As things stand at the moment, the future of the company is hanging in the balance; and if Wildman does not end up being funded through this Kickstarter it could be the end of Gas Powered Games. While NDAs have prevented us from hearing the entire story, the previous project that the studio was developing for another publisher was apparently only a month away from beta when the publisher pulled the funding and cancelled the project. Rumors suggest that the individual who gave the “green light” for the title that Gas Powered Games was working had departed the company and that led to the cancellation after a management change.

Gas Powered Games founder, Chris Taylor, isn’t happy about the situation the studio finds itself in; but the Kickstarter project with Wildman does present an interesting chance for the developer to turn things around and keep the work flowing while the studio pitches its original game concepts in hopes of finding new funding for the next project beyond Wildman.

The studio had suffered another recent setback, as Microsoft ended its development contract for Age of Empires Online. The studio had wanted to do a Kickstarter for its much talked about project called Kings and Castles, but the costs associated with the project were in the $5 to $6 million dollar range, which put it out of the range of Kickstarter.

Some have questioned Taylor’s motives and he has answered the critics in his Reddit Ask me Anything that he hosted last night. As someone that has basically grown up playing Chris Taylor’s games, it is difficult to believe that this is anything other than what Taylor has always tried to do; that is to deliver a good game, but admittedly the stakes are much higher this time around.